Col-oh-my-god-rah-rah-DOE!

12.7.8 somewhere in Durango, Colorado eating BBQ and drinking beer!

What an incredibly gorgeous state Colorado is! The day started early in the rest area of Georgetown, Co. The very first thing I noticed was the beautiful red-orange glare of the early morning sun rays kissing the distant mountain peaks. Lisa and I were in the mountains at last! I stepped out of Kaya trying to beat Mother Nature to the restroom and saw a two-tone brown Westy parked not too far away. Colorado was alright! An older gentleman walked up and asked if he could take a picture of Kaya. He said the world wasn’t the same since Jerry passed. I had to agree.After coffee, chai and some coconut water we were on our way. We saw about thirty bighorn sheep loitering on the ramp. We continued west on 70 towards the Leadville cut-off on 91. Kaya labored over the first mountain pass. Poor thing is over-loaded. It almost felt like the old days of having old men in walkers pass us. Tons of folks heading towards the ski areas waved as they shot past us with a few taking pictures of Ken’s mural. Magnificent views abounded! It is hard to feel anything but blessed bliss!Our first stop was Leadville, home of our crazy friend Ken though I don’t think he currently lives there.

Leadville is a cute old mining town at just over 10,000 feet. The town has a great coffee shop with kind folks called the Bean, a microbrew that we actually passed up on and a great vibe! I think it wouldn’t be too hard to call Leadville my home, the only thing lacking for was a natural foods store. On the way out of town we passed a local garage full of Vanagons called RPM. A guy standing out front waved.We continued down the mountain on 91 towards 50. We pulled off onto an old stagecoach road to test our new clearance and BF Goodrich tires. Man – LIFE IS TOO SWEET!

Kaya handled sweetly as we drove as far as we could before being stopped by erosion. Lisa, Lucy and I headed down towards a river and had a nice walk in the 50 degree sunshine!

We got to Gunnison around lunchtime and decided to get a sandwich at Provin’ Grounds coffee shop. The entire staff was really nice to us as they made our vegetable wrap and veggie bagel. The dreadie girl who took care of us loved Kaya’s paint job. Ken was right. People just constantly wave, take pictures and comment on the paint job. We got to Montrose in the late afternoon and decided to keep on keeping on towards Ouray and the San Juan Mountains. Ouray is probably one of my favorite towns ever. The drive to town is just incredible with amazing views, houses and porches barely clinging to the mountainside. Ouray has it host of coffee shops and even a microbrew. But having no chains and a storm approaching we shot through town and into the mountains. I adore the climb out of town… twisty mountain road with big drops if you miss a turn. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in the summer months.

We took a short walk at Molas Pass, 10,900 feet up, where a guy returning from skiing said this about owning Kaya “cool. that would be bomber!”. Lisa and I laughed. We seriously thought about camping at the trailhead at Molas Pass. We had the van pulled up to the edge with a view that promised an amazing sunrise. Do propex’s work this high? We ended up heading into Durango, staying at a motel to wash up, and eating Texas BBQ and downing a bottle of Rogue Yellow Snow IPA. PEACE.